Tottenham 1 - Manchester 5: City put on a five star show

But that is exactly what they got from an official last night as Sergio Aguero claimed his 26th for City this season, Yaya Toure his 15th and Edin Dzeko his 17th.

And after Aguero went off with a hamstring injury just before the break injury-hit striker Stevan Jovetic came on to claim his first league strike since joining City from Fiorentina before skipper Vincent Kompany also got in on the act.

But the controversy came in the 49th minute when referees’s assistant Scott Ledger ruled Danny Rose had tripped Dzeko in the box.

Rose was sent off and Toure blasted home from the spot, effectively wrecking any slim hope Tim Sherwood’s men had of a comeback.

Earlier, Ledger also disallowed what would have been an equaliser from Michael Dawson for offside, a decision which was probably correct.

But the penalty was clearly the wrong call with replays showing left-back Rose had got a toe to the ball.

Aggrieved Spurs were never going to come back from that against a rampant City, who have now won seven in a row, scoring 29 goals in the process.

Poor Spurs have now shipped 11 against City in two league games and now trail their rivals by 10 points, with any title aspirations surely over.

In contrast, Manuel Pellegrini’s goal machine are beginning to look unstoppable and with rivals Arsenal and Chelsea dropping points this week, the leaders are rightly hot favourites.

RED AND BURIED: Danny Rose slides in on Edin Dzeko and gives away a penalty [GETTY]

“Their only negative was a hamstring injury to Aguero, which looks sure to keep him out of Monday’s titanic tussle with Chelsea at The Etihad”

Their only negative was a hamstring injury to Aguero, which looks sure to keep him out of Monday’s titanic tussle with Chelsea at The Etihad.

The 25-year-old was making his first start in the league for six weeks following a calf injury, but certainly made up for lost time.

In the fifth minute Fernandinho picked his storming, angled run into the box and he smashed a right foot shot against a post.

The City domination was almost embarrassing and in the 15th minute they scored after David Silva spotted another Aguero dart into danger area.

He cut across Dawson and clipped past the advancing Hugo Lloris.

It was the eighth game in a row the Argentine striker had scored, with 10 goals in that period. It was also his 50th league goal for City, making him the fifth fastest in the Premier to do it.

Lloris did tremendously well to palm away Aguero’s header before Dawson bundled Christian Eriksen’s driven free-kick into the net, but was given offside by Ledger.

Then came a that awful decision in the 49th minute and Toure drove the penalty to the left of Lloris, sending him the wrong way.

In the 53rd minute Spurs were 3-0 down.

With the home side in disarray, Silva struck a post and when the rebound eventually came to Dzeko he sidefooted home.

In the 59th minute, Etienne Capoue prodded in after an Eriksen corner caused problems in the City box.

But that was a brief respite and Jovetic got that eagerly-awaited goal in the 78th minute, with a shot which ended up in the bottom corner after taking a deflection off Vlad Chiriches.

Then Dzeko’s shot hit Nabil Bentaleb and fell for Kompany to poke home.

At least Sherwood can point to conceding one less goal with one man less than Andre Villas-Boas had in the 6-0 defeat!

Pellegrini’s assistant Brian Kidd had to tell the Chilean the travelling support had been asking him for a wave for about 10 minutes.

Eventually he did. The way his team are playing, they will soon be waving their title rivals goodbye!